Oldham Werneth railway station was situated on the

Oldham Loop Line The Oldham Loop Line was a local railway route in Greater Manchester, England, used by trains that ran from Manchester Victoria to Rochdale via Oldham Mumps. Services on the line at the time of its closure were operated by Northern Rail. The l ...

, northeast of

Manchester Victoria Manchester Victoria station in Manchester, England is a combined mainline railway station and Metrolink tram stop. Situated to the north of the city centre on Hunts Bank, close to Manchester Cathedral, it adjoins Manchester Arena which was co ...

. The station was situated on Featherstall Road South, in the Werneth area of

Oldham Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines and between the rivers Irk and Medlock, southeast of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham ...

, in

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tam ...

, England. Opened on 31 March 1842 it was the oldest of the six railway stations that at one time existed in Oldham. It predominantly served local

Chadderton Chadderton is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, on the River Irk and Rochdale Canal. It is located in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Oldham, south of Rochdale and north-east of Manchester. ...

, Westwood and Werneth residents. The station was operated and served by

Northern Rail Northern Rail, branded as Northern, was an English train operating company owned by Serco-Abellio that operated the Northern Rail franchise from 2004 until 2016. It was the primary passenger train operator in Northern England, and operated th ...

. The station was built originally to serve the Platt Bros. of Oldham, a huge cotton spinning engineering company, who had their headquarters in Werneth. However, this company no longer exists. The

Middleton Junction and Oldham Branch Railway The Middleton Junction and Oldham Branch Railway (MJOBR) was opened on 31 March 1842 by the Manchester and Leeds Railway, whose chief engineer was George Stephenson. The MJOBR left the Manchester to Littleborough, Greater Manchester, Littleboro ...

formerly ran from Werneth Station down to Middleton Junction. The line included the Werneth Incline which had a gradient of 1 in 27, and was one of the steepest stretches of line regularly used for passenger traffic in the country. The branch line closed on 7 January 1963. The Oldham Werneth to Thorpes Bridge Junction, Newton Heath line which opened on 17 May 1880 was built to avoid the Werneth Incline. It approached Werneth station from the Manchester direction on a separate two track formation adjacent to the Incline. There was a flat junction between the two lines just beyond Werneth Signal Box and close to the platform ends of the station. Access to the platforms was through walkways connected to Featherstall Lane, west for the platforms. On 3 October 2009, the

closed, with the line being converted to light rail service (forming the Oldham and Rochdale Line of

Manchester Metrolink Manchester Metrolink (branded locally simply as Metrolink) is a tram/ light rail system in Greater Manchester, England. The network has 99 stops along of standard-gauge route, making it the most extensive light rail system in the United Ki ...

). The station was not retained for use by Metrolink, but the old line was temporarily used while the tram line through Oldham town centre was built. The new tram line diverges just west of the old Werneth station. As Oldham Mumps was retained as a temporary tram stop during the construction of the Oldham town centre line (completed in 2014), Oldham Werneth was the only heavy-rail station not to be re-used by Metrolink. The area is now served by the nearby Westwood and

Freehold Freehold may refer to: In real estate *Freehold (law), the tenure of property in fee simple * Customary freehold, a form of feudal tenure of land in England * Parson's freehold, where a Church of England rector or vicar of holds title to benefice ...

tram stops. The site where the platforms used to be has been overbuilt, and is now (November 2022) occupied by a logistics company.

Old line

The Oldham Loop line, closed 3 October 2009. Stations, anticlockwise from Manchester: * Dean Lane *

Failsworth Failsworth is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham in Greater Manchester, England, north-east of Manchester city centre and south-west of Oldham. The orbital M60 motorway skirts it to the east. The population at the 2011 census was ...

* Hollinwood * Oldham Werneth * Oldham Mumps *

Derker Derker is an area of Oldham, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies in north-central Oldham, close to the boundary with Royton. History Historically a part of Lancashire, Derker was recorded as a place of residence in 1604 with the name ''Di ...

Shaw and Crompton Shaw and Crompton is a civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, which contains the town of Shaw and lies on the River Beal at the foothills of the South Pennines. It is located north of Oldham, south ...

* Newhey *

Milnrow Milnrow is a suburban town within the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies on the River Beal at the foothills of the South Pennines, and forms a continuous urban area with Rochdale. It is east of Rochdale to ...

References

* {{Closed stations Greater Manchester Disused railway stations in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham Former Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1842 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 2009 DfT Category F1 stations